


Down to a Sunless Sea

by Tarlan



Series: Sentience [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Community: fanfic100, Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-24
Updated: 2007-02-24
Packaged: 2017-10-21 00:45:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/219055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hours turn into days for the stranded expedition while Jack calls on a friend to ask for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Down to a Sunless Sea

**Author's Note:**

> **Fanfic100** challenge Prompt 007. Days

Since accepting the single star on his collar, Jack had found few reasons to travel off world so stepping through the Stargate seemed to be a moment full of nostalgia. Having Daniel with him as he took that step made the experience even more rewarding, allowing him to feel the warmth of old memories, of camaraderie and of a deep, abiding respect for each other's strength and weaknesses. In truth, he had missed this. He had missed the sensation of having his molecules torn asunder and then restored on a distant world but, mostly, he had missed having Daniel by his side. Seeing him at the SGC was not the same as being part of a team. In the past months, he had felt as if a chasm had opened up between them, as if they had taken different forks in a road and ended up on two different sides of a bottomless gorge with only a rickety bridge hanging between them. Yet, as tenuous as that bridge had seemed only a few days earlier, Jack now knew it was made of stronger stuff, and he had Atlantis to thank for that.

Jack gave a bitter smile, recalling how his mother had always told him to look for the silver lining in any cloud. In this case, he found tarnished silver when Daniel cornered him after the briefing with Elizabeth, Sumner and Kavanagh.

As he and Daniel walked towards the long range communicator set up by the Asgard on this alien world so many millennia ago, Jack thought back to those heated private words...

***

Jack had called a halt to the meeting as soon as Carter left to carry out his orders, knowing there was little more that could be said or done at that time. He had all the known facts and, as brutal as it sounded, Elizabeth had to accept that the Ancient city had decided not to tolerate the presence of the majority of non-ATA gene carriers within its limits, and that number included her. Admittedly, stretching its limits to take those partnered to gene carriers as well as those with the recessive gene showed a higher level of sentience because five ATA gene carriers would never have been enough to run an entire city or provide whatever it was that Atlantis needed. As it stood, fifty-six expedition personnel were unaccounted for and Jack did not believe for one second that most of them were dead no matter what Elizabeth and the others had seen.

If the city's intention had been to kill all the non-ATA then it would have blocked Sheppard's radio signal to open the iris just as it had blocked earlier attempts to communicate, or simply gated the unwanted people into space. He shuddered at that thought, recalling the occasional MALP that had drifted off into the unknown, or burned off in the atmosphere of some distant world. Until recently, they had no means of visiting those worlds without the assistance of the Asgard, Tok'ra or free-Jaffa. Atlantis had not spaced them, though. Instead, it had sent them home. For that reason alone, Jack was certain the others were alive. The city had wanted them. It had chosen to keep them, and anything less than keeping them alive would not be, dare he say, logical.

"Jack? Wait up."

He glanced over his shoulder when he heard Daniel calling his name but barely faltered as he strode away from the briefing room, knowing Daniel would catch up to him.

"Yes, you can accompany me to..."

"Great, but that's not what I want to talk to you about."

Jack stopped and raised both eyebrows, silently inviting him to start talking but he felt curiosity when Daniel pulled that pinched face and pouty lip expression that meant this was not an easy subject for discussion. Jack sighed.

"Perhaps we can go to your office."

"I have an office?"

Daniel's lips twitched at the old joke but, otherwise, he retained a serious demeanor. Huffing out a breath softly, Jack continued onwards, as he had planned to head towards his office anyway. He needed to speak to the President to let him know what had happened to the Atlantis expedition and then he had a trip off world to prepare for if they were to get hold of the Asgard. Of course, it might have helped if Thor had left some way of contacting the Asgard here on Earth but the Asgard had not wanted to make it too easy for the Tau'ri to seek their assistance, not wanting them to become dependent upon them.

Daniel shut the door behind him and sank down into the chair opposite Jack. He leaned forward, blue eyes magnified fractionally by the lenses he wore.

"What are you going to do about Major Sheppard and Rodney McKay?"

"Well that was pretty succinct for you." Jack leaned back. "I was expecting a lecture on the sexual mores of a dozen different worlds and comparisons with various cultures on Earth, slowly leading into a discussion on military regulations and the breaking thereof."

"I'm gay, Jack."

Jack rocked back a little. He had know Daniel for years, and thought he knew everything about him so how could he have missed this? His eyebrows rose at the revelation. "Sha're?"

"Okay. I'm bisexual... but with a preference towards men." Jack left a single eyebrow raised and Daniel winced. "Perhaps in the past that wasn't so true, but gender isn't as important an issue to me now. Consider it enlightenment from when I ascended."

"And *de*scended."

"The fact of it is, Jack, Kavanagh had no right to tell you about Sheppard and McKay."

"But he did and now I have to deal with it."

Daniel looked frustrated. "But do you? Can't you just forget you ever heard...??"

"No. No I can't."

"They've done nothing wrong except be human... and be in love."

"Daniel, I don't like it any more than you do but regulations..."

"What if it was me?"

"What?"

"What if it was me having a homosexual affair with a soldier? What then?"

"You're a civilian, Daniel. The regulations don't..."

"They'd apply to the man I loved." Daniel tightened his lips, eyes blazing with anger. "They'd apply to you."

Jack stared at Daniel, not quite able to comprehend his words because it sounded like... it sounded like a declaration of love. He cleared his throat noisily and pulled at his collar. "Well... that's awkward."

Daniel's eyes widened in realization, his mind finally catching up with his mouth. He rubbed a hand over his eyes and forehead. "I'm sorry. I never meant to say anything."

Jack felt stricken, caught between his love for Daniel and the career he had chosen, one that denied him the chance to act upon that love even following Daniel's declaration. Sheppard was bound by those same regulations. "I'm sorry too."

"They don't deserve this," Daniel murmured but all the heat had gone from his eyes, leaving only despair.

**

Jack pushed aside the memory as they came upon the cavern that housed the Asgard communications array. They had used it once before to contact the Asgard and he hoped they had not disconnected the number afterwards to avoid being contacted so easily again. Within a few more minutes, though, Jack had his answer as he conversed with the holographic image of Commander Thor but, under the circumstances, he could understand why Thor refused to help.

"My people owe much gratitude to you, Jack O'Neill, but we must put the lives of our people first. The Replicators caused much damage to our new home world. Many ships and many lives were lost that we could ill afford to lose. The Daniel Jackson is essential for ensuring the protection of Hala while we rebuild."

"Hey. I understand. Just figured there was no harm in asking."

Thor blinked at him, his large dark eyes some how managing to convey his sorrow at having to refuse aid. He raised a hand as Jack turned to leave.

"Jack O'Neill. Perhaps we can spare one of our people to assist yours with the integration of the hyperdrive technology."

Daniel's quick glance, with his blue eyes almost begging him to agree, was enough reason for Jack to accept the offer of assistance. Hopefully, having an Asgard around would shorten the time it took to get the Daedalus ready for flight. All Jack had to do now is assign a commander to the Daedalus, and he already had one name in mind: General Jack O'Neill.

Hell, he thought, if Hammond could take command of the Prometheus, then he could ask for the Daedalus. Landry had been bucking for the SGC post anyway and would make a better job of it than Jack. The man was far more of a politician and paperwork guy than him, and Jack had missed being in the middle of all the action. He had missed his team....and he had missed being with Daniel.

With Thor's assurances that one of his people would join them within a few days, Jack offered his thanks and a parting farewell, waiting until the connection had been severed before turning to Daniel.

"Well that went as well as expected."

"It did?"

Jack winced at Daniel's unconvinced expression but he had known that gaining assistance from Thor was a long shot because of the recent Replicator war. Although highly advanced, the Asgard were a dying race and the Replicators had pushed them one more step towards extinction. They walked back to the Stargate in silence, with Jack's thoughts turned towards the problem of how to convince everyone that he was the best person to command the rescue mission.

***

"Should you be up?" John narrowed his eyes in suspicion as Rodney climbed shakily to his feet, using the wall for support.

"Help me up these." Rodney indicated towards the majestic staircase leading up towards the control gallery, eyebrows lifting in disbelief as he imagined trying to negotiate them with Rodney so unsteady on his feet. "No," he drawled.

Rodney huffed in annoyance and sank down onto one of the bottom steps, and John really ought to have known that would not be the end of it because if he had learned one thing about Rodney McKay, it was that the man could be tenacious when he wanted something. He watched as Rodney shuffled slowly up the stairs on his ass, teeth gritted in determination and arms shaking from the effort of pulling his weight up one step at a time. John rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Eichmann!" John called to the burly German, who jogged up quickly.

Between the two of them, they supported Rodney to the control room and dropped him into the rolling chair that Zelenka had taken up earlier that day. John anticipated an imperious command to initialize the panel but it lit up with a loud thrum the moment Rodney leaned over it, startling his lover.

"Hmm. You must have initialized this earlier."

John frowned because he could not recall going anywhere near that particular panel but then, perhaps initializing the main computer screen had automatically activated the rest. He folded his arms over the top of his P90 as he watched Rodney's fingers dance over the alien keys as if he had worked on this console all of his life. Data began to stream over the display panels and across the large screen beside him, none of it making much sense until what looked like a map appeared.

"What is that?"

"Schematic for the city." Rodney frowned and hummed softly. "This can't be right."

"What?"

Rodney turned to him, confusion evident in his expression. "According to this, something is draining energy at an alarming rate."

John stared around the control room, lips suddenly dry. "How long have we got?"

"What? Oh, a thousand years, give or take... Ow!" Rodney rubbed his shoulder even though John had barely touched him but the man deserved a hard jab for worrying him like that. John had enough concerns already without Rodney adding to them without good cause. "I'm just saying that this is a massive drain on the power."

"Could it be the shield over the gate?"

"The what?" Rodney didn't wait for an answer, instead his hands flew across the controls again, almost instinctively knowing which keys to touch.

"Have you done this before?"

Rodney gave him a look he normally reserved for idiots. "Antarctica? Ancient outpost?"

Ah, John thought silently. There had to be similarities between the two as they were the same technology after all. "Well, someone tried to dial in not long after the others were sent back. The attempt to connect failed but not before an energy shield snapped into place over the gate. Zelenka seemed to think it was an equivalent of the Earth's iris, though a lot more advanced."

"Was it Earth?"

"No. Least Zelenka didn't think so from the number of chevrons that lit up."

Rodney made a noncommittal sound as he called up more information. "No. Not the gate shield but it's something similar, a force field of some description placed around..." His words trailed off as his thoughts seemed to focus inwards. "Like the dome around the Proclarush outpost... except on a much larger scale."

John didn't bother ask about Proclarush having heard the name mentioned in one of the reports he'd force-fed himself while idly away any free time before leaving Earth. What seemed more important was this shield because the schematic on the large screen did not give any indication of how big Atlantis might be. "How much larger?"

Rodney looked directly at him, his blue eyes boring into John's. "This city is the size of Manhattan."

"That's...big." John licked his lips as Rodney turned back to the console. "What about the...whatever it was that sent the others away?"

"I don't know." Rodney looked up again, a wry mile twisting his lips. "I'm only touching superficial systems. Nothing for anyone or anything to get defensive over... I hope."

"You hope?"

"How am I to know what it might find aggressive? My sister once bit me just for looking through her record collection." His face gave a cute twist at the unpleasant memory that John found weirdly endearing. "Admittedly, I was planning on borrowing a few of them but that's not the point, the violence was completely unprovoked and I'm mentally scarred..."

"Rodney? Is it safe to go touching this?"

"Look, from what I can see, if it wanted us dead then it could have sucked all the oxygen out of the room or sent us all back with..." Rodney swallowed hard, unable to say the names that were balanced on the tip of his tongue. His eyes took on that frightened and sorrow-filled look that made John want to grab hold of him and protect him with his own body. "Yes, well, but it didn't. It kept a few of us here for whatever reason though I suspect it has something to do with the gene."

John smiled because he had already been through this same conversation while Rodney was unconscious. That thought brought another to the surface and he glanced at Rodney carefully, seeing no visible difference in the man he loved but sensing something that called to him on a primitive level, something that melted into his bones.

"Wait there...and don't touch anything." A glance towards Eichmann, who was still hovering in the background, made that an order which he expected Eichmann to ensure was strictly observed though Rodney simply rolled his eyes in annoyance and stepped back from the console with a false smile. John rushed down the stairs, taking three at a time, and grabbed a small Ancient object that Rodney had insisted was a child's play toy. It glowed blue in his hands, activated by the ATA gene but John knew it would switch off as soon as he let go of it. He ran back up the stairs and swiveled Rodney's chair around to face him, ignoring the yelp as Rodney windmilled his arms to keep his balance.

John held up the object in front of Rodney's eyes, recalling how amazed Rodney had been the first time he had handed it to John and seen it light up, and how disappointed he had been afterwards when it deactivated the moment he took it back from him. Such a simple device but it had reminded Rodney of his limitations, and his lack of an ATA gene. The toy glowed a deep blue now, almost the same color as Rodney's eyes, which were wide with confusion. John shoved the toy into Rodney's hand and watched confusion turn to awe as the toy continued to glow strongly, lips twitching as Rodney looked from the Ancient toy to John.

"I have the gene," he whispered. "I have the gene!" Amazement turned to a wide, toothy grin of joy and John could not help but smile back, knowing how much Rodney had coveted this one physical attribute above all others. At least he knew what Atlantis had done to his lover now; it had switched on the recessive gene.

When Rodney swayed alarmingly, John caught at his shoulder and took the toy from his hand. "Enough excitement for one day. Time to take another nap, Rodney."

He knew he had made the right call when Rodney made only a token protest. With Eichmann supporting Rodney on the other side, they started to make their way down the stairs but froze as the Stargate powered up. Several chevrons lit in succession, the shield snapping on and glowing brightly in front of the gate, ready to contain the opening wormhole but, just like the last time, the seventh chevron failed to lock and the Stargate went dark, the shield powering down.

"A seven symbol address," Rodney murmured. "That means it had to be a gate in the Pegasus galaxy." He looked to John with a perplexed expression. "But who else would be trying to dial in after ten thousand years?"

***

Rodney sank down onto his mattress, the fatigue dragging at his limbs once more but at least his mind felt more alert. He knew he had spent more time asleep than awake since arriving in Atlantis but at least he understood why now. The whisper-soft touch of John's hand against his cheek reassured him as he drifted off towards sleep once more, unable to keep his eyes open even when he heard Carson talking above him, voice taking on a deeper brogue when John told him his findings.

"He has the gene now?"

Rodney smiled as those words followed him down into sleep. He had the gene now. He had the ATA gene... and he had John. He could sense John hovering close to him, watching over him like he was a most treasured possession that had to be protected at all cost. It was a strange sensation that tingled at the back of his mind, spinning out like a slender thread that bound him to John more intimately than the amazing sex that shattered his body and mind every time.

When a body pushed up against his back some time later, no sense of ill ease drew him from his sleep. Instead, he pressed back into the warm embrace, sighing as arms enfolded him and soft lips nibbled at the nape of his neck. Though still asleep, he could feel a growing hardness pressing against his ass and he welcomed it, pushing back harder, grinding his ass into his dream lover's groin, and was rewarded when John slid his hands lower and began to tease open his pants. Rodney moaned, low and needy as hot fingers pulled down his pants and boxers, releasing him from the confines of his clothing before wrapping around his straining erection. He rocked back, feeling hard flesh slicked with precome glide along the cleft of his ass, dragging over the hidden entrance to his body. Caught between two pleasures, he pushed forward into the hand wrapped around his cock and then back against his lover. Saliva-slicked fingers pressed into him, stretching him slowly and carefully.

He almost surfaced when John pushed inside, wondering how he could be caught in this halfway world between sleep and waking where John's touch seemed almost surreal. If this was real then the too-dry penetration should have brought him to full wakefulness but, instead, he hovered in this halfway dream state, numbed by the intense pleasure filling him as John rocked into him, slow thrusts hitting that perfect spot every time. Release came slow, like thick syrup sliding through his body and mind, infinitely sweet... and sticky as he felt the heat of his come splatter over his belly, his thighs trembling from the incredibly satisfying intensity of his release.

He drifted in the moment, humming pleasurably as John's fingers trailed through the rapidly cooling semen, until the muted, soft cries of others snapped him out of his dreamlike fugue and he felt John draw out from his body. Rodney looked about in confusion, only now seeing the embarrassment on the faces of those closest to him as they desperately tried to look anywhere else, and failed miserably, for everywhere Rodney looked he saw others engaged in sexual activity, uncaring of their shocked audience. Only the dimness of the lighting partially concealed his flush of embarrassment when he realized that John had just fucked him senseless in public, right beneath the noses of scientists and soldiers alike.

"Oh no," he whispered roughly. "This isn't a dream."

***

When Jack stepped back into the SGC's gate room, he looked up to the control room where Elizabeth stood waiting for his return and shook his head. She took a deep breath and sighed raggedly as her hopes of a swift return to Atlantis died. She gave a soft, self-deprecating laugh as she thought back to all the political in-fighting and subterfuge that had all come to nothing, aware that Jack had every reason to gloat about her expulsion from the lost city but had treated her with amazing compassion instead.

Before Sheppard sat down and switched on the whole complex with barely a thought, she had been working solidly on Daniel Jackson, knowing that the key to getting Jack on board would be through him. In truth, she did not want Jack so much as she wanted his gene. Given a real choice, she would have kept Jack firmly at arm's length because he was the only person who could wrestle the leadership of the expedition away from her. He had all of her skills and he had the respect and the confidence of his men too, tried and tested on the battlefield and from the numerous times he had fought to save the planet whereas she was nothing but a politician to them. Throughout the planning for the expedition, he had readily deferred to her decisions but only because he believed they had little impact on him. He did not care how many botanists or physicists she took along, though he had taken greater interest in the military aspects, ensuring she had planned for sufficient men and ordnance.

Perhaps the reason why Jack had fought against his inclusion every step of the way was because they both knew she had the ear of the President and of the IOA, using her negotiating skills to ensure this would be a multi-national but, more importantly, a civilian run expedition. Whenever she spoke to Jack, she glorified the part he could play as military commander of Atlantis under her leadership, answering only to her rather than to any committee of civilians or generals should they be cut off from Earth. Despite his attempt to act as if he was just a military grunt, she knew he had a razor sharp intelligence hidden beneath the laconic exterior. He liked her, she was certain of that but his closed expression warned her that he would never defer to her leadership willingly, and certainly not unless ordered to do so by the President of the United States, his Commander-in-Chief. Unfortunately for Jack, she needed his gene more than she needed his respect. Pursuing Daniel for the expedition was as much for softening the blow for Jack for when the order came from the President to take military command under her leadership as it was for Daniel's amazing linguistic skills.

Sheppard had been the answer to her prayers.

When he sat down in the Chair, she realized that she no longer needed Jack and, though Daniel's contribution would be a great loss, her expedition had other anthropologists and linguists so they could survive without him. Sheppard was just a simple major and helicopter pilot. None of the military knew him and though he shared a few disturbing traits in common with Jack, such as the incredibly laid back mannerisms, the black mark on his record ensured that he would have to earn their respect. Simply put, he was no threat to her leadership.

Her thoughts turned to Major Sheppard, recalling his initial reluctance to join the expedition. When her attempt to persuade him failed, she had called on Jack, hoping he might be able to persuade him instead, and if he had failed then she'd had plans to go much higher. She had wanted Sheppard with them whether he wanted to go or not, because no one outside of Jack O'Neill had shown the same amazing natural ability to control the gene.

Elizabeth had no idea what Jack had said to persuade him but Sheppard had accepted reassignment to the Ancient outpost willingly enough, subjecting himself to Rodney's demands to touch this and touch that with only a few sarcastic comments. When had all that touching turned intimate? Normally, she considered herself to be very astute when it came to people but she could not recall any difference in their relationship from one day to the next that would mark a transition from strangers to lovers. Rodney had seemed so awed and bumbling with Sheppard on that very first day but, thereafter, he had settled down into a strange working relationship that spilled into an equally weird friendship. They had gravitated towards each other from the start probably because they were both semi-outcasts from their respective peer groups.

Kavanagh had seen something though, and Daniel too, judging by his lack of surprise when Kavanagh outed the two men in front of the General.

Why had she missed this? It was not that she had an issue with homosexuality, but she was not averse to using DADT to suit her purposes, aware that it would have given her greater leverage over the major to ensure he did as he was told, or run the risk of falling foul of the military's DADT policy. Perhaps it would have helped her to keep Rodney in line too, with the threat of seeing his lover drummed out of the military hanging over both of them. Admittedly, she would have used it as a last resort, preferring any other means of gaining their loyalty and respect, but it was a card she could hold back in her negotiations with both men, playing it only when no other option remained.

All her machinations and all her dreams had come to nothing. Two days earlier, she had stood in the city of her dreams, marveling at its sheer beauty, at the marble beneath her feet and the majestic rise of the stairs. She had let her imagination soar, dreaming of all the secrets she was about to uncover, only to be thrown out like so much garbage.

It had kept Sheppard though, and the four other ATA gene carriers. It had kept those with the recessive gene too, though whether it had allowed them to live or die still remained to be seen for history was full of atrocities where the half-caste had been taken out and murdered, seen as an abomination. It had singled out four humans too, allowing them to stay but not her. She was their leader but it had passed over her and cast her out.

Her only hope of seeing her dream realized now was if those who had survived managed to disable or destroy whatever artificial intelligence or sentience had refused her presence so that she might return. If anyone could do it, it would be Rodney McKay, but she had to get there first. With the Stargate unable to lock onto Atlantis because of the lack of ZPM power, and the Asgard unwilling to aid them, her hopes of returning within days had been shattered. All she could do now was wait through the long months for the Daedalus to be completed.

Jack interrupted her thoughts as he sauntered in with Daniel right behind him.

"They couldn't spare a ship...but they could spare an engineer to help speed up the work on the Daedalus."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. Carter's estimate for the integration of the hyperdrive and initial testing had been six to eight months. With an Asgard overseeing the work, that time might easily be halved.

***

Another day passed with nothing showing up on the life signs monitor and with no one attempting to hurt them beyond a triggering of pheromones that sent mated ATA pairs into the arms of their lovers. The worst of the sickness had passed and although Rodney still felt a bone-deep ache through his body, his mind was both active and incredibly bored. He could see the same frustration in the eyes of the other scientists, brilliant men and women who had taken this journey in the hope of making amazing discoveries.

Rodney had selected these people because not only were they the best in their respective fields but they were dedicated and enthusiastic too. They were not the kind of scientists who waited for the discoveries to come to them, rather they were the kind that made things happen. Sitting on their collective ass, twiddling their thumbs while waiting for a miracle to happen was going to drive them all insane within a week. Already he had seen a few flares of temper and knew the best way to keep them from snapping at each other was to keep them occupied.

"Major?"

John turned and smirked because Rodney was not kidding anyone by calling him by rank, and he knew it. However, Rodney felt they needed to keep a little distance between them when it came to making decisions for the expedition. This was still a civilian expedition after all though, admittedly, John had every right to place it under military control following the events of a few days earlier. Instead, this morning they had agreed to share the leadership, making decisions jointly, and though Rodney was willing enough to go along with the temporary camp on the gate room floor while they were all sick, the lack of privacy in the early hours of this morning had left more than a few of them feeling rather embarrassed.

"Unless Colonel Carter has a stroke of luck to go with her genius, the earliest we can expect to be rescued is, by my estimate, between six and nine months. I, for one, do not plan to spend the entire time camped out on the floor in a dormitory shared with fifty other people."

"Fifty-six."

"What?"

"Five natural ATA, forty-seven _new_ gene carriers and four non-ATA. That makes fifty-six."

"Yes, well your mathematical ability astounds me but I fail to see the relevance of quoting the exact figure. After the events earlier this morning, enjoyable though they might have been at the time, *three* would be one too many."

He rolled his eyes as John's smirk became a leer but Rodney could tell by the way his eyes had narrowed a fraction that he was thinking along the same lines. The schematic of the city had shown them that the Stargate was housed in a central tower that stood higher than those surrounding it. It seemed to be a self-contained area with its own laboratories, offices and quarters to house personnel. Perhaps some of the nearby offices or even large closets could be utilized now they had more soldiers to stand sentry or walk the perimeter or whatever else it was that soldiers did when they were not shooting at other people.

"Okay. Your people stay here until my guys check out the levels above and below this one."

"No. You include one or two of my people on each of your teams so they can report back what they find."

John seemed to chew on his inner cheek as he thought that through but then he nodded. "But my guys call the shots until we're certain the area is clear."

It sounded reasonable under the circumstances so Rodney nodded in agreement. An hour later, four teams stood ready to move out, listening carefully as both John and Rodney gave their own respective speeches which, for Rodney's part, basically said, don't touch anything without checking in with me first. He picked up his own datapad and joined Sheppard's team.

John looked at his wristwatch and then up to the gallery control room where Peter Grodin manned a station that Rodney had set up for communications. "Okay people, half hourly check ins. Let's move out."

Carefully, the first team with a couple of engineers picked its way up the bank of stairs leading from the control room while another, with Carson Beckett and Nurse Alma, headed off towards what looked like a small medical facility. The two remaining teams headed out together but moved in different directions when they reached the first junction. The rooms along the corridor appeared to be almost identical, containing one medium-sized room with a separate bathroom. The rooms were large enough to contain both sleep and office space but had no obvious facilities for preparing food, confirming Rodney's thoughts that these were personnel quarters rather than homes.

Rodney's radio crackled in his ear suddenly on an open line.

"Dr. McKay! You've got to see this! Spaceships! We have spaceships!"

"There's a lot of things I've got to see..." Rodney started to reply but John's exclamation drowned out his words.

"Spaceships!"

Rodney stared at him for a moment, seeing the wide-eyed excitement like a kid who'd just been told it was Christmas morning and that Santa had been. "What are you? Five?"

"Rodney! Spaceships!" His eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. You knew there was a hangar."

"Duh! Yes, but as it was highly unlikely that anything stored there would have intergalactic flight capabilities, I decided it would be a more productive use of my time checking the power room which, I believe, is on the next level down."

"The power room?" John replied blandly.

"Yes. Under normal conditions, the city would be powered by three Zero Point Modules...ZPMs. Now, I've already ascertained that two of them are fully depleted but the third ought to be at least a third full. Maybe less. So if we can figure out what is draining the power at an exceptional rate then we could save what energy is left for bringing more of the city back online. Perhaps have enough to open another wormhole back to Earth."

"If the city will let us."

"Of course if the city will let us."

"Of course." John gave him a tight smile but Rodney knew he was thinking more about the closed iris on the Earth gate and whether the radio message had got through. He'd had no confirmation from the SGC at the time, nothing to tell him that they had received his distress call to open the iris.

"So, *Doctor McKay*. Which way?"

Rodney consulted the map he had downloaded to his datapad and then pointed along the darkened corridor. Lights flared on with every step they took but the sudden bubbling of what Rodney presumed was just an artfully tasteful light made him jump, earning him a smirk from his lover. Even as he grumbled under his breath, Rodney stepped just that little bit closer to John as they carried on down the corridor.

"Here!"

Inside the room was a console set at waist height that contained three distinct holes, all of them filled, but only one was lit. Carefully, Rodney touched the first dark crystal and watched as it rose from the console. He touched the second one, sighing softly when it showed no flicker of energy remaining. He left the third in place, unwilling to tamper with the connection until he and Zelenka had integrated their Naquadah generators. The crackle from his headset caught him by surprise once more, especially when he recognized John's voice, having not noticed him slip away while Rodney was checking the ZPMs.

"Rodney. You need to see this."

"Where are you?"

"Another twenty feet along the corridor."

Rodney glared at the big German marine standing quietly by the door, watching over him and smirking if Rodney was not mistaken, and headed out. His thoughts disturbed once more when Carson started talking in his ear about a hologram message left by the Ancients. Now that he really did need to see but he moved swiftly down the corridor to where he could see John standing silently, staring at something. As he drew closer, he realized it was a window. His eyebrows shot up as he gazed through the glass to see the city spread out beneath him, the dome of a force shield protecting the buildings from an ocean of water.

"Now that is impressive," he whispered with reverence.

John smiled at him, his face reflecting back from the window as their eyes met in the alien equivalent of glass. Rodney's pale skin had taken on a soft blue-green glow, giving him an otherworldly look that seemed to entrance John, and Rodney felt warm fingers wrap around his, squeezing tight. Several minutes passed as they stared into the depths of an alien ocean, mesmerized by the patterns flaring on the shield as it kept the pressure of the water from destroying the fragile-looking towers that rose majestically all around them, almost lost in the darkness of a sunless sea. The chirp of his radio broke the spell and Rodney frowned at Carson's irritation.

"Carson found something we really must see."

John turned to him, casting his face into shadow but Rodney knew the tilt of his head from so many nights lying in the semi-darkness of his room. He knew he ought to draw back but the magic of the moment still held him and he sighed as John's lips brushed against his, a hand reaching up to cup the back of his head, holding him in place as John licked against his lips, softly demanding access. Rodney obliged, lips parting to welcome the plunder of his mouth, reveling in the taste and feel as John deepened the kiss. He drew back leaving Rodney feeling bereft of his touch.

"Beautiful," John murmured, and Rodney blinked his surprise because no one had ever called him that before, and yet he knew John meant it.

"Rodney! Are you no coming?"

He reached for his radio as Carson interrupted for a third time. "Yes. Yes. We're on our way."

John was smiling at him now, soft and teasing, and so full of love that it was almost painful to look at him.

"Come on." Rodney said roughly. "Carson's about to have kittens if we don't get there soon."

"Now that would be interesting to see," John added dryly.

And if they walked so close to each other as they made their way to Carson that they bumped shoulders and hips with almost every step, no one on their team seemed to give a damn.

***

When the Stargate activated that evening at the same time as the day before but displaying a different set of chevrons, only a skeleton crew remained in the gate room. The rest had started to move into the private quarters found close by, eager for a little privacy after spending days cooped up together.

Rodney stared at the Stargate as the seventh chevron failed to lock, sighing heavily when the Stargate powered down and the shield collapsed, leaving the room eerily quiet. He leaned into the warmth of the man who had come up beside him, feeling a comforting arm wrap around his waist.

"Do you think it's them?" Rodney had to ask, hating the way his voice trembled with fear.

"The Wraith?" John took a deep breath and shook his head. "Hard to say after ten thousand years."

Rodney nodded, feeling only marginally reassured. The last message from the Ancients had talked about a sleeping enemy on a distant world that had driven them from this galaxy. Their last resort was to sink the city beneath the waves and lock out the address to all but a single location, their original home world in the Milky Way and the place they had fled to when they could no longer stay in Atlantis - Earth.

"Atlantis. The great city that sank in the ocean. The surviving Ancients must have told the story to the ancient Greeks."

"Just didn't happen on Earth." John smiled and then snorted. "Shame they didn't mention the Wraith while they were at it."

"Hmm. Maybe they did. Greek mythology is full of demons, and not just the life-sucking kind."

John nudged his shoulder. "I picked us out a great room. Let's go to bed."

Rodney looked up at the taller man, seeing the warmth and comfort mingled with love. "Yes. Let's."

END


End file.
